See Through Paper?

[HRoberts_08]

Hi Everyone hope you can help me

I'm stuck on see through paper i've heard its called onion skin, translucent paper but so far in the UK its also called tracing paper.

the lady who wrote to me wrote on such thin but felt thick paper on ivory or cream see through paper that if she wanted too could've wrote on the other side but she wouldn't get my reply for 2 weeks.

I also saw it called Vellum paper

any advise is so welcome

Thank you

Speak Soon

[OCArt]

Onion skin paper and tracing paper are two different beasts. My pack of onion skin has a slight crinkly feel to it-- a bit like seersucker cloth. Tracing paper is smooth; at least the ones I used many years ago.

 

True vellum is the skin of an animal but there may be a paper with he same name. I suggest a visit to the art supply store.

[PaganArcher]

Tomoe River is also translucent and has a similar feel in hand to tracing paper or the vegetable based vellum out there.

[rafapa]

Maybe Fabriano Traccia is a good option.

[inkish]

I got a packet of 25 sheets recently, from http://www.paper2go.co.uk/. Takes ink perfectly (Diamine Sargasso Sea in this case, but have not had problems with others), as you can see from the pictures. The surface is not completely flat — you don't notice it when you write, but when you fold it up, it is pleasingly crisp and has a bit more volume than smooth papers.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by inkish

[akustyk]

My favorite see-through paper is the Airmail paper by the Japanese brand, Life. If you cannot get it in the U.K. (jetpens sells it in the US), you can visit a local art supply store and ask for tracing paper. Some can be very translucent and takes ink really well. Borden and Riley makes very nice tracing paper.

[abstract49]

I believe you may find that "vellum" covers a range of products, the only constant being their relative translucency. Depending on whether you're looking at art supplies or technical drafting supplies, the weight will vary somewhat. Also, if I'm not mistaken (as I very well might be, I admit), there is a "vellum" intended for letter writing and such, which is still different from art and drafting types.

[Chuck400b]

Onion skin paper was used extensively before the rise in home printing with computers. It's low weight and high durability made it perfect for letters, especially international which had even half ounce charges on postage. Although it can be used as tracing paper, most on the market tracing paper is not exactly onion skin.

 

Vintage Onion skin could be erasable or not, and either smooth finish or "cockle" which is the texturizing finish.

 

Being so thin a 500 sheet ream is less then half the height of a normal 20lb paper ream.

 

There is only one current supplier (that I know of) making supplying true reams of onion skin, and that is the Paper Mill Store. For domestic US shipments they charge UPS rates that make even ordering one $25 ream a $40 affair.

 

It is the smooth onion skin they have. Non erasable.

 

http://www.thepapermillstore.com/paper-store-24-7-onion-skin-white-paper-8-1-2-x-11-in-9-lb-bond-smooth-500-per-ream.html

 

Onion skin paper due to its thinness and size is more used in crafts and the creation of custom "wads" for certain types of gunpowder based weapons. (The extremely thin and durable nature allows it to be used within the tolerances of a rifle barrel.)

 

Tomoe River may be the closest to true onion skin with a more affordable price and while being an easier product to source.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Chuck400b

[Chuck400b]

Oh and JAM Paper, a US company does sell smaller sets of and writing sheets of onion skin, but their shipping is outrageous and they would never get an order from me. 20 sheets costs $3 but they want $8 to ship it domestically...it's more cost effective to buy a ream.

[FLZapped]

True vellum is animal skin. However, paper vellum has been around for quite some time and is popular in drafting as it has an extremely smooth hard surface finish, which makes it easy to erase pencil from. It also takes ink rather well (especially India inks used in drafting) as it absolutely will not feather or bleed through.

 

I use a 17 pound bond (62 GSM) paper vellum for letter writing. One thing you need to be aware of with this type of paper, is that is takes ink longer to dry and if you get skin oil on the surface, it may cause fountain pen ink to bead up. I always scrub before writing.

 

My memories of onion skin is from my days as a young child. My mom had some that she used to type on. I remember it being amazingly strong for how light it was.

 

I use The Papermill Store as my source. They carry a 9 pound bond (32GSM) onion skin, too. Being in the US, all the paper is in US sizes.

[sidthecat]

My mother did typing at night and I vividly remember her boxes of onion skin paper. Never cared for it, but I have a cache of Disney animation paper, which was made to be both tough enough to withstand multiple erasures and translucent enough to see the drawing underneath it. It's brilliant, and I'd use it more often if I didn't feel like I was using up a precious resource. It is my go-to letter-writing paper.